peapod_boston's review
5.0
A continuation of the current adventure by Glen Cook, "Surrender to the Will of Night" provides a powerful, thematic conclusion to the trilogy. People run hot or cold on these books. Cook breaks a lot of rules--hundreds of people and place names, no map, telling rather than showing major events--but there's a very specific style at work and the rule-breaking allows him to tell a story with a scope and intensity I've not seen anywhere else. And his characters sneak up on you, so that by the end, the fates of minor characters become strangely moving and affecting. As always, leaves me hungry for his next book, whatever the series.
xantaranth's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
3.0
xantaranth's review against another edition
adventurous
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
wmhenrymorris's review
I was ready to give up on this series about 1/3 of the way in, but I kept with it and rediscovered a love for both Cook's prose style for these books and all the moving pieces.
countdeworde's review
4.0
První dva díly mě uchvátily víc. Tento měl to dobré z předchozích knih jen toho bylo na množství míň, ale stránek bylo stejně. Některé pasáže tak působily velmi dlouhé a člověk se nemohl dočkat, až se dostane k zajímavějším scénám.
Na druhou stranu Heris a Lila získávají víc prostoru, což je fajn.
Zřejmě v případě Děj se vůle nastoupil syndrom druhých knih. Takové to, kdy je obsah dost dobrý na to, aby to člověk přečetl s chutí a těšil se na konec série, ale stejně vám vrtá hlavou, že jednička byla o chlup lepší.
Na druhou stranu Heris a Lila získávají víc prostoru, což je fajn.
Zřejmě v případě Děj se vůle nastoupil syndrom druhých knih. Takové to, kdy je obsah dost dobrý na to, aby to člověk přečetl s chutí a těšil se na konec série, ale stejně vám vrtá hlavou, že jednička byla o chlup lepší.
sarah42783's review
3.0
☠ A Seasoned and Nearly Seasoned Glen Cook Mercenaries Buddy Read (SAaNSSGCMBR™) with The Real Evgeny™, Elena the Nearly Seasoned One and My Dearest Wife Choko of the Review Not Yet Written ☠
Actual rating: 3.4599758962 stars.
Disclaimer: I never wrote the following crappy non-review. It is simply impossible that I did. Because less than 4-star-worthy Glen Cook bookslike The Silver Pike do not exist. Ergo, I never read this one. And never rated it 3.4599758962 stars, obviously. And if I didn’t read it and didn’t rate it 3.4599758962 stars, I can’t have written a review for it, right? Right. So glad we agree and stuff.
My Inner, Slightly Biased, Moderately Hysterical Glen Cook Fangirl (ISBMHGCF™) is really mad at me right now. She expected me to put my two little grey cells together, give my pathetic rating for this book some shrimpy thought, come to my senses, and end up going for a much more appropriate 20.5-star rating, you see. And I do see her point, to be disgustingly honest. I mean, anything written by Glen Cook (cereal box blurbs included) is worth at least a 10-star rating compared to 99.9999999% of the crap I read. Aaaaaannnnd, I have to admit I nearly (and very cunningly) increased my rating by 0.3, just so I could round things up to 4 pathetic-but-still-more-honorable-than-3 stars. But strong I remained and rein in my ISBMHGCF™ I heroically did. Go me and stuff.
Notbeing full of crap as usual changing my rating was a painful but necessary (and a teensy little bit excruciating) measure. A certain someone needed to be severely reprimanded for his aggravatingly annoying and uninterestingly boring slightly uncharacteristic behaviour in this book, you see. YES, I AM LOOKING AT YOU, ELSE BLOODY SHRIMPING TAGE!!!!!!
In case you were wondering: no, this is not my nefarious-yet-happy face.
Note to self: breathe, Sarah, Breathe. Because your boyfriend acted like a foolish, boring ass for 500 pages doesn’t mean he won’tact like a foolish, boring ass redeem himself in the final instalment of this series. Hope springs eternal and stuff 
.
So. My Super Sexey Sextuple⁸ Quadruple⁶ Agent of a Hot Boyfriend (SSSQAoaHB™) Else Tage apparently woke up at the beginning of this book and decided this was the perfect time to go through some sort of STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS. You know, the type of STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS that hassome men doing STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS THINGS and turning into self-absorbed, whining, immature, brooding nitwits? If this wasn’t bad enough, he also has the gall to be duller, lifeless, more soporific than a herd of apathetic, lackluster barnacles in this instalment! The bloody fishing nerve! Can you believe that guy?! I’m afraid I cannot let this go unpunished. I 💕lurves💕 thee a little lot, SSSQAoaHB™ mine, but some things are just not done! Besides, if I let you get away with this, it will set a most disastrous example for your High Security Harem roommates. Ergo, off the Harem Basement of Pleasure Doom you go, Else Tage. Prepare to be appropriately and thoroughly, um, tortured and stuff.
Excuse me? You have something to say about my, um, torture methods? Ha! Didn’t think so.
You know who saved this book from Else’s STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS? My new girlfriend Heris, the resident, middle-aged Wonder Woman. Heris is slightly scrumptious. Heris can save the world all by her little self. Heris likes cracking some heads. Heris is ha-ha-ha-ha. And Heris kicks some most delicious derriere. So, very logically, Heris is MINE MINE MINE. Ergo, Poof Gone Harem (PGH™) and stuff. She’ll be sharing Lady’scell apartment, by the way. I’m pretty sure these two will be get along grandly and become BFFs in less time that it took Lady to decorate her living room with severed heads on pikes.
Also to be credited for saving the book (and therefore to be added to thekidnapping adoption list): Double Great, aka the “genius with all the acquired personal skills of a spoiled fourteen-year-old” (and award-winning butt-pincher extraordinaire), and a yummy demigod with the ability to spoiler spoiler spoiler, who I predict will be as perfect for my Heris as my Croakie is for my Lady.
Also, also to be credited for saving the book: whales and kraken and mermaids and giant jumping crabs, oh my! My murderous kids’ subaquatic cousins are in da house! And let’s not forget cranky mystical people and toads and fart spy children (don’t ask) and stuff!
➽ And the moral of this Else Tage You Better Think Twice Before Doing the Stupidly Stupid Thing I Think You Might End Up Stupidly Stupidly Doing in the Next Instalment But Hey No Pressure You Potentially Deadly Dead Babe Crappy Non Review (ETYBTTBDtSSTITYMEUSSDitNIBHNPYPDDBCNR™) is: had I actually read this book, I would have told you that nearly half of it is totally unnecessary filler stuff. And that it sorta reminded me of Water Sleeps(And So Do I). And that it kinda sorta ends mid-sentence, which is just not done. But I didn’t, so I won’t. Ha.
• Book 1: The Tyranny of the Night ★★★★★
• Book 2: Lord of the Silent Kingdom ★★★★★
• Book 4: Working God's Mischief ★★★★
[Pre-review nonsense]
I just rated a Glen Cook is a God (GCiaG™) book less than 4 stars.
I JUST RATED A GLEN COOK IS A GOD (GCIAG™) BOOK LESS THAN 4 STARS.
Shame is bloody shrimping me and stuff.
In my defense, this is kind of a Filler-Type Instalment Thingie (FTIT™) ← I never wrote that and you never read it. In which my boyfriend Else Tage goes through some sort of Stupid Is as Stupid Does Mid-Life Crisis (SIaSDMLC™) ← I never wrote that and you never read it. Thank fish my new girlfriend Heris was there to save the day/book/whatever. Our Lord Shrimp knows how I would have rated this book, had her ass-kicking little self and big mouth not been around.
➽ Full If All Goes Well I'll Read Some Really Crappy Stuff Before I Write My Review for this Book Which Will Make Me Realize How Glorious this Book Really and Prompt Me to Change My Pathetic Rating to 10+ Stars As Is Appropriate for All Glen Cook Books Ooops I'm Reading Dreams of Steel Next I Hate My Life and Stuff Crappy Non Review (IAGWIRSRCSBIWMRftBWWMMRHGtBRiaPMtCMPRt10+SAIAfAGCBOIRDoSNIHMLaSCNR™) to come.
Actual rating: 3.4599758962 stars.
Disclaimer: I never wrote the following crappy non-review. It is simply impossible that I did. Because less than 4-star-worthy Glen Cook books
My Inner, Slightly Biased, Moderately Hysterical Glen Cook Fangirl (ISBMHGCF™) is really mad at me right now. She expected me to put my two little grey cells together, give my pathetic rating for this book some shrimpy thought, come to my senses, and end up going for a much more appropriate 20.5-star rating, you see. And I do see her point, to be disgustingly honest. I mean, anything written by Glen Cook (cereal box blurbs included) is worth at least a 10-star rating compared to 99.9999999% of the crap I read. Aaaaaannnnd, I have to admit I nearly (and very cunningly) increased my rating by 0.3, just so I could round things up to 4 pathetic-but-still-more-honorable-than-3 stars. But strong I remained and rein in my ISBMHGCF™ I heroically did. Go me and stuff.
Not
In case you were wondering: no, this is not my nefarious-yet-happy face.
Note to self: breathe, Sarah, Breathe. Because your boyfriend acted like a foolish, boring ass for 500 pages doesn’t mean he won’t
Spoiler
So. My Super Sexey Sextuple⁸ Quadruple⁶ Agent of a Hot Boyfriend (SSSQAoaHB™) Else Tage apparently woke up at the beginning of this book and decided this was the perfect time to go through some sort of STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS. You know, the type of STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS that has
Excuse me? You have something to say about my, um, torture methods? Ha! Didn’t think so.
You know who saved this book from Else’s STUPIDLY STUPID MIDLIFE CRISIS? My new girlfriend Heris, the resident, middle-aged Wonder Woman. Heris is slightly scrumptious. Heris can save the world all by her little self. Heris likes cracking some heads. Heris is ha-ha-ha-ha. And Heris kicks some most delicious derriere. So, very logically, Heris is MINE MINE MINE. Ergo, Poof Gone Harem (PGH™) and stuff. She’ll be sharing Lady’s
Also to be credited for saving the book (and therefore to be added to the
Also, also to be credited for saving the book: whales and kraken and mermaids and giant jumping crabs, oh my! My murderous kids’ subaquatic cousins are in da house! And let’s not forget cranky mystical people and toads and fart spy children (don’t ask) and stuff!
➽ And the moral of this Else Tage You Better Think Twice Before Doing the Stupidly Stupid Thing I Think You Might End Up Stupidly Stupidly Doing in the Next Instalment But Hey No Pressure You Potentially Deadly Dead Babe Crappy Non Review (ETYBTTBDtSSTITYMEUSSDitNIBHNPYPDDBCNR™) is: had I actually read this book, I would have told you that nearly half of it is totally unnecessary filler stuff. And that it sorta reminded me of Water Sleeps
• Book 1: The Tyranny of the Night ★★★★★
• Book 2: Lord of the Silent Kingdom ★★★★★
• Book 4: Working God's Mischief ★★★★
[Pre-review nonsense]
I just rated a Glen Cook is a God (GCiaG™) book less than 4 stars.
I JUST RATED A GLEN COOK IS A GOD (GCIAG™) BOOK LESS THAN 4 STARS.
Shame is bloody shrimping me and stuff.
In my defense, this is kind of a Filler-Type Instalment Thingie (FTIT™) ← I never wrote that and you never read it. In which my boyfriend Else Tage goes through some sort of Stupid Is as Stupid Does Mid-Life Crisis (SIaSDMLC™) ← I never wrote that and you never read it. Thank fish my new girlfriend Heris was there to save the day/book/whatever. Our Lord Shrimp knows how I would have rated this book, had her ass-kicking little self and big mouth not been around.
➽ Full If All Goes Well I'll Read Some Really Crappy Stuff Before I Write My Review for this Book Which Will Make Me Realize How Glorious this Book Really and Prompt Me to Change My Pathetic Rating to 10+ Stars As Is Appropriate for All Glen Cook Books Ooops I'm Reading Dreams of Steel Next I Hate My Life and Stuff Crappy Non Review (IAGWIRSRCSBIWMRftBWWMMRHGtBRiaPMtCMPRt10+SAIAfAGCBOIRDoSNIHMLaSCNR™) to come.
doorisajar's review
2.0
This is the longest I've ever taken over a novel by Glen Cook -- usually I plow through them in a matter of days, or a couple of weeks at the most. This one took ~5 months, with multiple weeks in there where I didn't touch it.
Simply put, not enough happens in the middle third of the books. I've never thought Cook needed an editor before, since his prose tends toward sparse, but in this case, whole sections of plot either needed to be cut -- since they didn't add much beyond moving some characters around -- or expanded to make them interesting.
To make matters worse, the book ends on a cliffhanger, having spent its last third getting progressively more interesting. I'm not sure if I'm on board for the next book in this series; I want to know what happens, but not if it means another slog like this.
Simply put, not enough happens in the middle third of the books. I've never thought Cook needed an editor before, since his prose tends toward sparse, but in this case, whole sections of plot either needed to be cut -- since they didn't add much beyond moving some characters around -- or expanded to make them interesting.
To make matters worse, the book ends on a cliffhanger, having spent its last third getting progressively more interesting. I'm not sure if I'm on board for the next book in this series; I want to know what happens, but not if it means another slog like this.
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